Search engines answer questions. What is that question? It could be anything. Why is my dog ignoring me? Where is the closest pizza place? Or OH MY GOSH I FOUND SOMETHING ON MY ARM, IS THIS BENIGN?
Whatever the question, Google’s goal is to connect people with the right answer.
It can be difficult to determine how to answer this question. This is why we have created a handy guide for you to know the 4 simplest ways to improve your Google ranking. With this information, you should be able to answer the right questions.
Before we get started, you need to establish what your goals are for your digital marketing. Are you selling a product? Providing information? Trying to increase the quality of your leads? Your goals should be dictating how you go about developing a strategy. Whatever your goal is, keep it in mind.
Content Is Still The Undefeated Champ
As the old saying goes, “Content is King”. This still is true today. There are a couple of different types of content that you should use on your website.
First there is, obviously, the text describing what the page is about (the copy). Whether we are talking about the Home page, an About Us page, or a Service page, you should have copy answering the question made by the searcher. If the page is about proper care for chinchillas, don’t start talking about koalas just because you want to rank for that too. Stay on topic and communicate your points clearly.
If you’ve heard of SEO, you’ve likely heard of keywords and how you need to fit as many keywords into your copy as possible. Yes. Please use keywords throughout your content. But let your message be understood before forcing keywords down your reader’s throat.
There is a great keyword research tool: Keywordtool.io. This will let you search for longtail keywords related to other keywords you have already discovered.
Second, if it makes sense for your business goals, make regular blogging a priority. Updating your content regularly and consistently tells Google you are still relevant.
Blogs can be a great tool to teach the reader about a particular topic (you will want this topic to be related to your business). You can also use it to communicate what is happening within your company. Whatever content you decide to post to your blog, make sure it solves a searcher’s need.
Keywords Are Still (Somewhat) Necessary
Let’s start with the most basic form of search engine optimization, the on-page stuff. You remember your business goals? Good. What problem does your product/service/information help solve? What question/s will your website answer for the searcher.
This information will also help establish a keyword list. This is simply a list of words that are relevant to both your business and your business goals.
Once you have a list of relevant keywords, you can start the process of plugging them into the different SEO elements on your website (Title, Headings, Alt Text, etc.). When you do this, you need to remember the purpose of each page. So, if you have a page about plumbing you don’t want to start plugging in keywords about pest control.
Use only keywords that are related to the topic of the page.
Google looks at the consistency of your message and will lower your rank if your content is not consistent with its message. Just write about the topic for the page and you will be fine. Ultimately, Google wants you to answer the right question.
Expand Your Reach
There is more to SEO than what is on your actual website. Google looks at your entire web presence. Meaning, investing time and energy into areas like social media will help your website gain more traffic. If you don’t know where to start with social media, check out the blog we wrote about the different social platforms. It explains how you can use them to further your digital marketing efforts.
This also means online listings and review sites. Google My Business is always a good place to start (if you are a business). Then there is the long list of online listings you have never heard of. There are quite a few online listing sites, so it is best to stick with the major ones.
Gaining control of your online listings means you won’t have to worry about someone else updating them (incorrectly). Sometimes these listings update themselves or can be updated by anyone. It’s best to keep control of those listings so there isn’t any incorrect information out there.
One tool we recommend using to do this for you is Moz Local. This will give you a free analysis of your online business listings and give recommendations based on them. It will also let you focus on the listings that are necessary.
Fixing What’s Broken
Errors happen on every website. When these errors come up, you should have an action plan to correct them. Errors can be anything from duplicated content on multiple pages to a page title that is too long. Different errors will have different levels of importance, but it is a good practice to go ahead and correct them all anyway.
One service we use to help identify potential website errors is Moz Pro. Moz has several tools you can use, but one of its most powerful ones is the ability to crawl your website and identify errors.
Overall, just make sure there aren’t any glaring mistakes on your website that would make you look unprofessional or cause confusion. Everything should have a purpose. Make sure all your links work and that everything appears correctly on all devices.
Just, Answer The Question
What this all comes down to is being a solution for your readers. You need to have content that is relevant to your target audience. Don’t just try to attract as much traffic as you can. Attract the right kind of traffic. This will help you gain better leads and higher quality traffic (the kind that doesn’t leave your website immediately).
Still have questions? Work with us on developing an SEO & Content Strategy for your business. Send us a message describing your project.